The Leitrim hurlers' victory in the Lory Meagher Cup is no doubt one of the stories of the GAA years so far, and it is great to see a county that has struggled for so long finally have some success on a national stage.
Their win over Lancahshire came in dramatic fashion, and you could see what it meant to their players after the game. Lifting that cup concluded what has been a long journey for the county, and they will be hoping to build on that success in the Nicky Rackard in 2020.
While the story of Leitrim's victory is remarkable in itself, there is also another fantastic aspect to it. Iraqi born Zak Moradi would come off the bench to score a point in the final, and would lift the trophy with the rest of the squad after the game.
Moradi moved from Iraq to Carrick-On-Shannon as a refugee when he was 11-years old, and would go on to become a vibrant member of the local community. The GAA played a big part in that, and the win yesterday meant as much as him to anybody.
Speaking to RTÉ News today, he expressed his delight at Leitrim's win.
‘It’s one of the proudest days of my life’ – Iraqi-born Zak Moradi on winning the Lory Meagher Cup with @LeitrimGAA pic.twitter.com/itN7Cjv23c
— RTÉ GAA (@RTEgaa) June 23, 2019
A lot of counties probably look down on us, but there's a lot of lads on the Leitrim hurling team that have the same heart and passion as Kilkenny and Cork and all of those lads.
All these lads are training three or four times a week, matches, they work. It's the commitment...
This is our All-Ireland, we will celebrate now for the next week or two.
This is our All-Ireland, it's what we train for all year round and we eventually did it. It's one of the proudest days of my life today.
This is what it's all about.
